Memento Mori is a powerful philosophical tool for finding clarity and unlocking growth in your career, startup, business, writing, or relationships.

A thread on its meaning and how it can change your life...

Memento Mori is a Latin phrase that translates to "remember that you must die."

A favorite of Stoic philosophy, it is a reminder of the certainty and inescapability of death.

It is not intended to be morbid or dark; rather, to clarify, illuminate, and inspire.

Memento Mori - the idea of remembering your mortality - has been around for millennia.

The phrase itself is believed to have originated in the Roman Empire.

After military victories, the heroes were paraded through the streets on chariots.

They may have felt like Gods...

But the Romans would place one person in the chariot whose sole responsibility was to whisper in the hero's ear throughout the parade.

"Respice post te. Hominem te esse memento. Memento mori!"

Translation: "Look behind. Remember thou art mortal. Remember that you must die!"

Memento Mori served as a tool to invoke humility in moments of glory.

It can also be a tool for providing clarity.

The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius famously wrote in his Meditations, "You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think."

What anime is on level with Baki, God of High School, Dr Stone, Attack on Titians, etc.

Short and completed?

What other coins do you think will do a 10X in 2021?

You have my permission to shill in the comments, 👇

If you can, let me know why you think that.

Sylvester Stallone was homeless in 1975 and had $106 to his name.

Today, he's worth over $400M.

This is the wild story of how one negotiation changed his life forever and why betting on yourself is always the right move.

Time for a thread 👇👇👇

1) Let's start in 1969...

After 3 years at the University of Miami, Sylvester Stallone dropped out of college, deciding to move to NYC to chase his acting dreams.

The interesting part?

Born with a partially paralyzed face & slurred speech, everyone thought he would fail.

2) From 1969-1975, Sylvester Stallone did just that — he failed.

When he wasn't sleeping in the Port Authority Bus Terminal after being evicted, Stallone worked as a movie theater usher & cleaned lion cages at the zoo.

As if that wasn't bad enough, it got worse.

3) Homeless with no money to his name, Sylvester Stallone even starred in a softcore pornography film.

The pay?

Only $200.

Even worse?

Thin, hungry, and with no money to eat, Stallone sold his beloved dog "Butkus" for $40 in front of a 7-Eleven.

4) Down on his luck and unable to catch a break, Sylvester Stallone was on the verge of giving up acting.

Until one event changed his life forever.

This is where it gets interesting…

What was the best article you read this week?

Any topic is fair game.

You think the Gamestop short squeeze is the greatest ever? Not. Even. Close.

This is the story of Piggly Wiggly and one man taking on Wall Street ALONE.

Buckle up, because this is one of the craziest stories in investment history.

It all started in 1919 when a man by the name of Clarence Saunders invented the first modern supermarket—Piggly Wiggly stores.

Before this time, people had to go into a store, give the clerk a shopping list, and then wait for their items to be gathered and brought out.

Saunders changed all that when he created a retail self-service market where people could pick the items themselves and pay on the way out.

People loved the idea so much that within 3 years there were over 1,200 Piggly Wiggly stores in the U.S.

With this success, Saunders began licensing the Piggly Wiggly name out to other retailers.

Unfortunately, some of these retailers in the northeast began going out of business in the fall of 1922, all while using the Piggly Wiggly name.

Traders on Wall Street heard of these closings and decided that they had an opportunity on their hands.

They began shorting Piggly Wiggly while also spreading rumors that the parent corporation was in trouble.


Within a week the price dropped from $50 to $40 a share.

Here's my list of 'must read' memos for Founders and startup operators:

1. 'Doing things that don't scale' - Paul Graham
2. 'Good PM v/s Bad PM' - Ben Horowitz
3. 'Day One' - Jeff Bezos (1997)
4. 'Only thing that matters' - Marc Andreessen
5. Netflix Culture Memo (any version)

Scoop: A recent Sequoia secondary investment in Zapier valued the company at over $4 billion. It's quite the achievement for the enterprise software startup, which has raised just one round of venture capital, a $1.3 million seed in 2012.

Zapier is now the 8th most valuable @ycombinator alum, per its list released earlier this week:

10 years ago, Netflix spent $0 on original content.

This year:

Netflix: $11B
Apple: $6B
Disney: $1B
+ amazon, hulu HBO etc.
=
$20B+

Here's a crazy startup idea to take a swing at this $20B+ content piñata. 👇 Here's a quick business plan 🤔

The idea ---> @ycombinator for Content

Let's give it a made up name : Zeta Studios

It is a new accelerator model for getting shows & movies made.

= give engineer duos money ($120k), coaching, & give them 3 months to get ready for a Demo Day in front of a room of investors.

Zeta = give storytelling duos money ($120k), coaching, & 3 mo to get a sizzle reel ready for Demo Day w/ buyers from netflix, amazon etc.

Why now? ---> This wouldn't work 10 years ago.

Demand for content has skyrocketed, but supply has not kept up.

You have infinite niches (action, comedy, reality, etc)

I mean there's a f*cking hit show about cleaning your house!

People are CHUGGING content of every flavor.

Plus areas like india, indonesia, africa etc. now have 2B+ new internet users streaming video

There's no such thing as "too much content"

The same way YC is replacing university for the most ambitious engineers. Let's replace film school for the best creatives.